Subtitle: The Parable of Predestination.

Excerpt: The Parable of Predestination.

Author: Klaus Meyer

Allow me to tell you a parable, but before I do, I need to address the concerns of nitpickers like me and explain the purpose of parables.

What is a Parable

A parable is a dark saying that paints a picture of something that is difficult to explain.  It usually has one point and only the author is “authorized” to explain that point.  Everything else about the parable might be valid or not, and may be useful to illustrate other scenarios, but those things should never be used as proof for other concepts.

Take the parable of Lazarus and the rich man as an example.  Jesus used this to illustrate that they would not believe even if someone rose from the dead.  That is the point of the parable and it is a reference to His death and resurrection. All other issues in that parable are just there for illustration.  In my view, we cannot use the statement that the rich man from hell communicated with Abraham in heaven as proof that there is communication between heaven and hell, nor that there is a physical gulph between heaven and hell.

My Parable

If you had the money and wanted to build the house of your dreams, you would purchase a building lot, hire a builder and an architect, procure all the required government permits and all required material.  At this point, the house is destined to be built, but it will not build itself.  The trades need to use their skills to build that house, and they use their tools in the process to accomplish what the architect’s drawings show so that the house will be built in accordance with your wishes. 

Just as a house is built as desired by the owner, using materials, drawings, and written instructions, skilled labor and their tools, so is God’s house built.  The owner knows ahead of time what the house will be like while God knows, from the foundation of the world, what the destination of each of us will be.  

However, our destiny will not be automatic. We need our tools of prayer and meditation, of study of the Word, of showing love to our neighbors in need and sharing the Gospel of Christ to build the house of the Lord.  In the process, we will build the “houses” of other people as well, many of whom we may never meet.  With that in mind, we should not look at predestination with a fatalistic view as if it makes no difference what we do as far as evangelism, if predestination is true.  Instead, we should view our destination in the same way a prospective homeowner views his house that is being built.  The final product is predetermined, but the work to build it is still required.  Even though nothing in the natural world is sure, in God’s plan, there will not be any snafus.  He is seeing all the laborers who responded to His call, and He is seeing the finished result already because He is already there.  

When Jesus said:  “Before Abraham was, I AM”, He did not mean that He was time travelling; He meant that He was (IS) with Abraham at the very moment He was speaking to the religious rulers. 

Jesus is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever.